Ladle-tilting mechanism



' June 26,1923, 1,459,985

A. NELSON LADLE TILTING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 6, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 ml/ ul S (I L I:

June 26, i923.

A. c. NELSON LADLE' TILTING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 6, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet2 "June 26,. 1923. 1,459,985

A.C NEL$ON LADLE TILTING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 6, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 5AI'IUE/VEK June 26, 1923, 1,459,985

A. c. NELSON LADLE TILTING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 6, 1921 5 Sheets-Sheet 4.Patented June 26, 1923.

tenets nnirnnsrares earner oeu res.

ALFRED C. NELSON, OF LAKEWOOD, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE WILLIAM B. POLLOCKCOMPANY, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

. LADLE-TILTING MECHANISM.

Application filed August 6, 1921. Serial No. 490,243.

- nace and other iron and steel manufacturill) ing plants.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention T. provide a flexible orarticulated tilting member such as a rope or chain which is suspendednear its ends by suitable supports provided. upon opposite sides of theladle in its tilting plane. The tilting meniber loosely encompasses orgirdles the bottom of the ladle so as to have enough slack in it topermit one of its ends to be lifted on or off its support. and isunwound from the surtace of the ladle as it is tilted. for pouring andthen rewound upon the ladle as it again assumes its upright position.The tilting member is also provided with a suitable eye in its end or isotherwise adapted to be engaged by a crane book. The tilting member isso constructed andv supported that the crane hook engaging means isalways presented in the proper direction to receive the nose of thecrane hook as it is brought into position -for engagement. Preferablythe eye (it the tilting member is presented outwardly of the side oi theladle, so as to readily receive the nose oi the crane hook when it isapproaching the side of the ladle in the tilting plane oi the ladle.When one end of the tilting member is engaged by a crane. hoolnand thecrane is operated to hoist. the slack in the flexible member will firstbetaken up and the end of the tilting member will be lifted above itssupport upon the ladle so as to clear the support when the ladle isturned on its trunnions to be poured. Conversely when the crane isoperated to lower andv the ladle has tilted backinto its normal uprightposition; the tilting member will again be engaged by the support'on theladle and be suspended thereon while the crane hook is further loweredand moved away from the ladle. Except while the ladle is being tilted,the flexible member is not in close contact with the hot shell of theladle and is therefore not damaged by overheatmg.

Among the objects of my invention are the provision of a ladle tiltingdevice which requires no manual labor for its attachment to the ladle orfor its operation; the provision of a tilting member which may besecured to or supported upon the ladle in such a manner that the hook ofthe crane employed for tilting the ladle may be made to engage with thetilting member without hand guiding or other manipulation by the floormangthe provision of a simple, reliable and safe ladle tilting device;the provision of a ladle tilting device which is al' ways carried by theladle and available for instant use; the provision of a ladle tiltingdevice which may be readily used for tilting large hot metal ladles foreither short or long pours when the ladle is supported. upon. a ladlecar or when the ladle is supported by a traveling crane. These and otherobjects are accomplished by the use of my invention which is describedin these specifications and shown in the accompanying drawings in whichFig.' 1 is a side elevation of a hot metal ladle car carrying a ladleequipped with my invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation of the clevis and rope eyes;

3 is a fragmentary vertical section on line IIIIII of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section on line IVIV of Fig. l with theladle shown in dot and dash lines being tilted for a short pour;

Fig. 5 is a transverse vertical section on line li- JV of Fig. 1 withthe ladle shown in dot and dash lines being tilted for a long pour;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation, Fig. 7 is a longitudinal section and Fig. 8is an enlarged view of the rope end of a preferred form 0t flexiblemember which may be employed in my invention; I I i Fig. 9 shows a ladleremoved from the ladle ear and supported by crane hooks while it isbeing tilted by a mechanism embodying my invention;

Fig. 10 is afragmentary side elevation of a hot metal ladle car havingdrop side frames the ladle being equipped with a tllting deviceembodying my invention; and

. Fig. 11 is a vertical section on line XI- XI of Fig. 10.

Referring to the drawings 1 represents a hot metal ladle car havingstraight side frames such as the car shown and described in myapplication Serial No. 397,285, filed July 19, 1920, issued JanuarySl,1922, as Patent No. 1,405,065. Upon the car, 1, the

, ladle, 2, is supported bytrunnions, 3, 3,

which rest in suitable bearings, 4:, 41, which are carried by the car.5, 5, are lifting trunnions which are adapted to be engaged by suitablehooks for lifting the ladle bodily from the car. The ladle, 2, has itsbottom portion rounded as shown at 6 so that when it is tilted it willclear the straight side frame sills, 7, 7, of the car body. Firmlysecured to the body of the ladle, 2, upon either side so that the ladlemay be. tilted in either direction are brackets, 8, 8, each of whichisprovided with a pair of spaced apart thumb like projections or hooks, 9,9, in which there is formed a seat, 10, for the pin, 11, to which pin anend of the tilting member, 12, is secured. The pin, 11, is removablymounted in a clevis, 13, by suit able means such as the key plates, 14,which fit in shallow, transverse slots, 15, in pin, 11, and are securedto the clevis, 13, by means of cap screws or bolts, 16.

The sides of the clevis, 13, are connected together by a preferablyintegral cross bar, 17, which is'adapted to be engaged by a lifting hooksuch as is shown in dot and dash lines at 18 in Fig. 1. The clevis, 13,thus becomes a part of the tilting member, which may be said to bearticulated at the pivot pin, 11. It will be observed that when theladle, is in an upright position, for instance as shown in full lines inFig. l, the upper part of the clevis, 13, falls away from the side ofthe ladle until arrested by the lower end, 13*, contacting with the sideof. the ladle. The lifting eye of the clevis formed by the sides, 13.and bar, 17, is thus inclined I away from the ladle, so as to readilyreceive the nose of an upwardly moving crane hook.

The lower end, 13 of the clevis acts as a. stop to prevent the clevisfrom overturning too far about the pin, 11.

I preferto employ a, flexible tilting member made of a plurality ofropes of equal lengths, such as shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, each of theropes having an eye formed in each end by bending the rope about athimble, 19, and splicing the end into the body of the rope as shown at20. When made in this manner ample strength and accurate length areassured and the ropes may be readily assembled upon pins, 11, by firstwithdrawing the pins from the clevises after removing the keyplates,,14. then placing the eyes of the ropes in position in theclevisles, l3,reinserting the pins, 11, and again securing the keyplates, 14, in position to retain the pins, 11, in the clevises. Thefiex ible member, 12, is made suliiciently longer than the girth of thebottom of the ladle to loosely encompass it so as to provide enoughslack to permit the pin, 11, to be lifted over the thumb, 9, andautomatically drop into the seats, 10, formed in the thumbs, 9, when theclevis is brought close to the body of the ladle. lVhen thus constructedit is unnecessary for the flexible member or the olevis, 13, to belifted by hand or other means in order to place it upon or detach itfrom the crane hook. For instance, upon lowering the ladle from itstilted position shown in dot and dash linesin Figs. 4,,

and 9, to upright position, the rope, 12, will be wrapped about thebottom of the ladle, the pin, 11, will swing over the thumbs, 9, closeto the body of the ladle above the seats, 10, the pull of the cranetaking the slack out of rope, 12; and then as the crane hook is loweredfurther and thepull on rope, 12, is relieved the pin, 11, willautomatically drop into the seats, 10, which will support the clevis,13, and thereby support the flexible member, 12, against furtherdownward movement. The crane hook will now lower out of contact with thecross bar, 17, and may be moved away from the ladle by the crane manwithout any attention from the floor man. I

In Fig. 4 the ladle car is shown standing upon the track rails, 21,while the ladle, 2,

as shown in dot and dash lines is being tilted about the short pourstands, 22, to pour the contents of the ladle close to the side of thecar.

In Fig. 5 the ladle car is shown standing upon the track rails, 21.while the ladle as shown in dot and dash lines is being tilted about itsright hand trunnion, 3, for making a long pour thus delivering the metalat a greater distance from the side of the car than when tilted for ashort pour as shown in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 9 theladle, 2, is shown supported by the crane books. 23, ashaving been litted bodily off from the ladle car and the ladle is beingpoured into a charging trough, 24, such as is used when charging openhearth furnaces such as that conventionally shown at 25. I

In Figs. 10 and 11 the ladle, 26, is shown mounted upon a drop frame carwhose side frame members, 27, are dropped or de pressed as shown at 28,to permit the ordinary flat bottom ladle to clear them when the ladle istilted. In this application of my invention one end, 29, of the tiltingmember, 30, isshown permanently. secured to a bracket, 31, upon one sideof the car while the other end, 32, of the tilting member, 30, isdetachablv supported upon a bracket, 8, which is similar to the bracketsshown in the other figures of the drawings. This construction may beemployed when the ladle has to be tilted in only one direction.

To prevent the flexible members from slipping out of place I prefer toprovide guides, such as the flanged brackets shown at 33, upon thecorners of the ladle, 26, as in this form of ladle the bottom isordinarily circular and the flexible member tends-to slip out ofposition upon the rather abruptteorner where the bottom joins the sideof the ladle unless some provision such as that shown at 33 forretaining the flexible member is made.

The operation of my invention as will be understood from the foregoingdescription is as followsthe ladle being equipped with my invention, forinstance as shown in the drawings, when it is desired to tiltthe ladlethe crane operator lowers the crane hook to the proper height to engagethe bar, 17. of the clevis, 13, and moves the crane hook toward theladle until the point of the hook enters the opening in the clevis belowthe bar, 17. He then causes the hook to rise into engagement with thebar, 17, and tilts the ladle in the manner described. After the ladlehas been poured the crane operator lowers the crane hook until the pin,11, drops into the seats, 10, provided upon the bracket, 8, and theweight. of the flexible member, 12, and its clevis, 13, is supported bythe thumbs, 9. Further lowering of the hook causes it to be disengagedfrom the clevis. 13, after which 7 the hook may be moved away. Itrequires no'more than ordinary skill upon the part of the craneoperatorto thus operate my improved tilting mechanism.

The use of my invention eliminates the necessity of employing a man toattach and detach a chain, rope or other tilting device.

to the ladle or to attach the tilting device to the crane hook. whichoperations. as is well known. are arduous, difficult and dangerous onaccount of the great heat which is radiated from the hot metal in theladlesa My improved tilting device is always carried by the ladle and isready for immediate use. whereas. when detached ropes, chains or hooksare employed they are frequently not at the place they should be forconvenient use when required. For large capacity ladles the weight ofthe detachable tilting connection is too great for a man to .membershown and described herein.' Neither do I limit my. invention to theparticular.

ner or means by which the end of the fieXi-' ble member is adapted to beengaged by a crane hook. I a

It is essential only that the tilting member have one of its endssecured to the ladleFand its other end detachably supported by theladle, the tilting member encompassing a port-ion of the periphery ofthe ladle in the tilting plane thereof sorthat the tilting memher willbe unwound as the ladle is being tilted for pouring and then be rewoundas the ladle is allowed to again assume its upright position. It isobvious that the portion of the periphery of the ladle encompassed bythe tilting member need be only so much as is needed to give the tiltingme'mber the desired leverage for holding the ladle in its maximum tiltedposition.

Havingv thus described my inventioml claim: i a

. 1. The combination of a 'ladle, brackets secured to opposite sides ofsaid ladle and a flexible member loosely encompassing the bottom of saidladle and having its ends supported, one of them detachably, by saidbrackets.

2. The combination of a ladle, brackets secured to opposite sides ofsaid ladle; a flexible member loosely encompassing the bottom of saidladle having its ends supported, one of them detachably, by saidbrackets, said ,detachablysupported end being adapted to .be engaged bya crane hook.

3. The combination of a ladle. brackets secured to said ladle at spacedapart points in the plane in which the ladleis tilted,-and a flexiblemember loosely encompassing the bottom of said ladle and having itsendssup ported, one of themdetachably. by said brackets.

4c. The con'ibination of a ladle. brackets secured to opposite sidesotsaid ladleya flexible member loosely encompassing the bottom of saidladleandhaving its ends supported, one of them detachably: by saidbrackets, said. detachably supported end be ing provided with an eyeadapted to be engaged by a crane hook.

. 5. The combination of a ladle. brackets secured to opposite sides ofsaid ladle. a flexible member loosely encompassing the bottom of saidladle. having its ends supported by said brackets. one of said endsbeing detachably supported by one of said brackets and provided with aneye adapted to be engaged by a crane hook. said flexible member beingconstructed and supported to prepeg? said eye outwardly of the side ofsaid 6. The combination of a ladle, brackets secured to opposite sidesof said ladle, a flexible member loosely encompassing the bottomof saidladle and having an eye in each end and lateral projections adjacent tosaid cured to opposite sides of said ladle. said brackets having spacedapart projections forming pin-bearings, a flexible member provided withan eye in each end, cross pinssecured to the ends of said flexiblemember 1ns1de said eyes, said flexible member bemg adapted to looselyencompass the bottom of said ladle between said brackets and said pinsbeing adapted to rest in said pin bearings in said projections tosupport said flexible member. 7

8. The combination of a ladle, a bracket secured to one side of theladle, a flexible member having one of its ends secured to said bracket,said flexible member extending loosely under the bottom of the ladle, asecond bracketsecured to the other side of the ladle, said secondbracket beingprovided with a projection extending outwardly from saidladle, the free end of said flexible member being provided withmeansadaptedto be engagedby a lifting hook saidmeans be ing also adaptedto be supported by said projection.

- 9. The combination of alad-le, a flexible member provided with a cranehook eye in each end, two brackets secured one on either side of saidladle, means for supporting; said flexible memberson said brackets topresent said crane hook eyes outwardly of said ladle, said bracketshaving upturned projections, said flexible member being of such a lengththat when its ends are supported on said brackets the flexible memberwill hang loose-' ly under said ladle to permitof'its being lifted offfrom its support on one ofsaid brackets.

10. The combination of a ladle, two brackets secured one on either sideof said ladle, one of said brackets having an upturned projectionforming a hook extending outwardly and upwardly from the side of saidladle,'a flexible member having a crane hook eye in one of its ends,supporting means connected to said flexible member for supporting it onsaid hook to present said crane hook eye outwardly from the side of saidladle, the other end of said flexible member being. secured to the otherof said brackets, said flexible member being of a length, when thusmounted on said ladle to permit said supporting means to be lifted onand off said hook, s

11. The combination of a ladle having jections and loosely encompassingthe ladle between said projections to provide enough slack to permit oneend of said flexible member to be lifted on and off its support, thiscnd of said, flexible member being: also adaptedto be engaged by a cranebook,

12. The combination of a ladle, a tilting member loosely encompassing aport-ion of the periphery of the ladle in the tilting plane thereof,said tilting member having one end attached to the ladle the other endof said tilting member being free, and means on said ladle detachablysupporting said free end of said tilting member in position to beengaged by a crane hook.

13. The combination of a ladle having trunnions about which it isadapted to be tilted for pouring, tilting means secured to the ladleencompassing a portion of the periphery thereof in its tilting plane,said tilting means having afree end adapted to be engaged by a cranehook, saidtilting means being adapted to be unwound from the surface ofthe ladle as it be being poured and're'wound upon the surface of theladle as 1t returns to its upright position, and means for supportingthe free end of said tilting means in position on said ladle to beengaged bysaid crane hook.

' 14(The combination of a ladle, a tiltingmember having one endsecuredto said ladle and its other end detachably supported thereon, saidtilting member encompassing a portion of the periphery of said ladle ina tilting plane thereof 15. The combination of a ladle, a tilting memberhaving one end secured to said ladle and its other end detachablysupported thereon, said tilting member encompassing a portion of theperiphery of said ladle in a tilting plane, thereof, and guiding meansfor said tilting member on said ladle.

16. A ladle provided with books upon its opposite sides, a flexiblemember having its ends respectively supported by said hooksandlooselyencompassing the bottom of the ladle so as to provide enoughslack in the flexible member to permit one of its ends to be lifted offfrom its hook, the flexible memher having one of it's ends adapted to beJ ALFRED c. NELSON.

